In case you were wondering

 I didn't mean to get y'all worried with my prolonged absence here, but things just piled up in a hurry. 

I will do a separate post on Gemma's journey from being an untouchable to being a darn near pocket pony, as it will be a fairly lengthy one.

Suffice to say, I am well pleased with the progress she made. 

Meanwhile, I went from having a cold to having full blown pneumonia and needing hospitalization.

My first ambulance ride since I broke my wrist 20 years ago

 It's amazing how quickly pneumonia can take you down., I will spare you all the details, except that it will be a fairly slow recovery with weekly check ups. So no major projects for me for the next couple of months. I just got released from a 4 day stay, most of which was spent in the emergency ward; I got an actual room at 11:45 pm last night and got released today around 2:30 pm. Oh how welcome it was to breathe fresh air and feel the sun on my face!

Beautiful autumn days

 We sure have had some beautiful fall days to start off the season. The sun shines in my office window first thing, it rises right at the end of our driveway. 

Morning chores are done to the sound of geese v-winging it overhead, honking as they head from one farmer's field to the next, gleaning grain that the combines have left behind as they (the geese, not the combines!😏) prepare for their long flight south. I will try for some photos of them over the next few days. I heard the owl hooting in the trees across the river this morning too. I do love my mornings! Beamer has been frisky on these frosty mornings too, up to his usual antics. Too dim of light for my cell phone camera at 7 am, will have to pack the Nikon. 

The boyz are doing well, this week is all about getting them foot broke so we can trim those li'l hooves asap. Also tomorrow I will put the horse trailer in position to start the loading training. 

They aren't too worried about small spaces so I think the trailer loading will go well. 

Little buddies

Somebody got his daddy's penchant for yawning! I haven't seen Scooter do this so it has to be the Beamer genetics in Boe showing up!

We were working on the fence in the south west pasture so I walked over to see the river. We are bordered on 3 sides by the Medicine River, north, west and south , almost like we are a peninsula. The bank is about 20 ft. high here. The river curves from the west to the south, and the current is flowing north here. Where my hammock overlooks the river, it's the north side and the river is flowing west! This little river meanders through the farmlands as it pleases. 

I have a little update for you on my former dog Thea, remember her? She is the one I sold back to the breeder as she was in need of more work than I could give her. 

Thea has excelled in working cattle, I'm so glad she found her niche, as they usually show their collies on sheep. Her littermate Mia is also a working cattle dog on an Alberta ranch. 

Equinox

 The first day of Autumn is a beautiful day here! It was nice of the neighbours to grace us with their presence....

The baby boyz are doing well and progressing nicely in their training. They are quite catchable loose in the barn, but not yet outside the barn in their pen. They both pick their feet up nicely and are comfortable with being touched all over their bodies including their bellies. The leading is coming along, some days are better than others. Their little personalities are starting to show through, but that is for a later post once they have gotten more solid in their training. 

They have graduated as of today to not being closed in the barn at night; they are comfortable in their surroundings; even the wind billowing the tarps on the hay pile near them didn't bother them, and they have pretty much quit hollering like little lost souls when they see Beamer or Velvet; just a quick hello whinny. 

Speaking of Velvet, she hasn't come back in heat so I am sending up a prayer that she is carrying a Beamer baby. That being so, I have decided not to ride her, as that baby is far more important than me having a riding horse. At 22 years old, this may be her last, or nearly her last foal, and with Beamer being 21 he may not have many breeding years left. Also, his arthritis is progressing in his front legs as he now has 2 knobby knees. He is still a happy horse though!

The next step for the boyz will be leading them outside the barn, once they are a little better inside the barn. And as soon as I can walk up to them and catch them outside, then it will be such things as trailer loading and standing tied. Lots of fun yet to come!

Sunday Stills- Signs of Autumn

 Autumn is slow to arrive here. The trees ae just barely starting to turn, the grass has decided that it is going to green up again, and most of my flowers are either reblooming or are still going strong. 

Even the horses are not showing much sign of new hair growth- just a hint of shedding on Dally, and Beamer's hair in the mornings is a bit fluffed up.  

We haven't had a heavy frost yet either- just a hint on the windshield of the truck a few mornings ago.

So for this week's challenge, this is all I have to offer- the sunflowers from the earliest part of the summer are drying up and the chickadees and  a few other types of birds are happily munching on them. There are still plenty of them that are still yellow and still growing though.

For more Signs of Autumn, click here